Morphology-based tissue analyses comprise a critical approach for understanding disease mechanisms in[unreadable] animal models of arthritis. Recognizing that superior histologic preparation of rodent tissues for[unreadable] morphometric analysis requires a high degree of technical skill and experience, we have established a[unreadable] dedicated morphology core to facilitate the arthritis-focused studies in this submission. The functions of[unreadable] this morphology core include:[unreadable] i) harvest, preparation and sectioning of tissue for subsequent analysis;[unreadable] ii) histochemical, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical staining of experimental tissues;[unreadable] iii) microscopy and imaging equipment for analysis and presentation; and[unreadable] iv) technical consultation and literature to aid in histomorphometric-based experimental design.[unreadable] The capabilities of the arthritis core will contribute to achieving the program objectives including histologic[unreadable] identification and quantification of synovial cellular lineages, quantification of pathologic features in[unreadable] synovial tissue (lining hyperplasia, leukocytic infiltration, bone and cartilage destruction) and quantification[unreadable] of synovial tissue extracellular matrix deposition and composition. All four projects in this submission[unreadable] incorporate histologic analysis of arthritic mouse tissues in their experimental design.